Executive Order 13988: What It Required and How It Was Revoked

Executive Order 13988 was a directive signed by President Biden on January 20, 2021, that told every federal agency to treat discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity as a form of sex discrimination under existing federal civil rights laws. It was revoked on January 20, 2025, when President Trump signed Executive Order 14168, which rescinded EO 13988 and replaced its framework with definitions of sex based on biological classification at conception.¹

The Legal Idea Behind the Order

The order built on Bostock v. Clayton County, the Supreme Court’s 2020 decision holding that firing someone for being gay or transgender violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act because such decisions necessarily take sex into account.² EO 13988 declared that this reasoning should apply to “any Federal law that prohibits sex discrimination,” not just employment law.³

What the Order Required Agencies To Do

EO 13988 gave every agency head a defined task. Each was to review all regulations, guidance, policies, and programs administered under any statute prohibiting sex discrimination and flag anything inconsistent with the expanded interpretation. Agencies then had to consult with the Attorney General and consider revising or rescinding those inconsistent actions.³

The deadline for each agency’s implementation plan was 100 days. The order also told agencies to account for overlapping forms of discrimination, such as claims combining race and gender identity. Every federal authority was covered except independent regulatory agencies.

Where the Order Changed Federal Enforcement

Three areas saw the largest shifts.

Education

The Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights issued a Notice of Interpretation on June 16, 2021, announcing it would enforce Title IX, which bars sex discrimination in federally funded education programs, to cover sexual orientation and gender identity.⁴ The Biden administration later codified broader gender identity protections in a 2024 Title IX regulation, but a federal court in Kentucky vacated that rule nationwide in January 2025, finding it exceeded the Department’s authority.

Housing

HUD moved within weeks. A February 11, 2021 memorandum directed the Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity to enforce the Fair Housing Act to prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity, and told regional offices to review past records for claims that could now be timely.⁵

Healthcare

On May 10, 2021, HHS’s Office for Civil Rights announced it would interpret Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act, which prohibits sex discrimination in federally funded health programs, as covering sexual orientation and gender identity.⁶ The rule reached hospitals accepting Medicare, doctors receiving Medicaid payments, and Marketplace insurers.⁷

The EEOC also updated its Enforcement Guidance on Harassment to incorporate protections against harassment based on sexual orientation and gender identity in the workplace.

How the Order Was Revoked

EO 13988 lasted exactly four years. Executive Order 14168, titled “Defending Women From Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government,” was signed on January 20, 2025. Section 7(b) rescinded EO 13988 along with Executive Orders 14004, 14020, 14021, and 14075, and dissolved the White House Gender Policy Council.¹

EO 14168 defines “sex” as an individual’s immutable biological classification as male or female and states that the term does not include gender identity. It directed HHS to issue guidance expanding on those definitions within 30 days and required every agency head to submit an implementation update within 120 days.

Agencies moved quickly to reverse course:

HHS rescinded its gender-affirming care guidance and its Section 1557 interpretation covering gender identity.⁸
HUD withdrew its 2021 fair housing enforcement memorandum.
The Department of Education began enforcing Title IX using biology-based definitions of male and female.
In January 2026, the EEOC voted 2-1 to formally rescind its workplace guidance requiring employers to provide bathroom, dress, and pronoun accommodations for transgender employees.

What Protections Remain

Revoking EO 13988 removed the federal policy of actively extending Bostock’s reasoning across every anti-discrimination statute. It did not overrule Bostock. The Supreme Court’s 2020 holding that Title VII prohibits firing someone for being gay or transgender is still binding law.² An employer who fires or refuses to hire a worker on those grounds still violates federal employment law, whatever the current administration’s enforcement priorities.

The reach of that reasoning outside employment is narrower than EO 13988 assumed. In 2025’s United States v. Skrmetti, the Supreme Court stated: “We have not yet considered whether Bostock’s reasoning reaches beyond the Title VII context, and we need not do so here.” The Court also allowed restrictions on transgender military service and transgender passport designations in separate emergency-docket rulings that year. The broad application of Bostock to education, housing, and healthcare that EO 13988 tried to establish now faces significant legal headwinds independent of the order’s revocation.

Even after the EEOC’s rescission of its accommodations guidance, Title VII’s prohibition on sex-based employment discrimination still covers sexual orientation and gender identity. Courts interpret the statute independently of the EEOC’s enforcement posture. The practical shift is that employees are more likely to need private litigation to enforce their rights than to rely on agency-initiated action.

State Laws

Roughly two dozen states and the District of Columbia have their own laws prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity in housing, employment, and public accommodations. Those laws operate independently of any federal executive order. If you live in one of those states, the protections EO 13988 tried to create at the federal level may already exist under state civil rights law.

Filing a Discrimination Complaint Today

Deadlines still run regardless of shifting enforcement priorities, so acting promptly matters.

Employment

Employment complaints go to the EEOC. You generally have 180 calendar days from the discriminatory act to file a charge. That extends to 300 days if a state or local agency enforces a law prohibiting the same type of discrimination. Federal employees must contact their agency’s EEO counselor within 45 days.⁹

One detail catches people out: using an internal grievance process, a union procedure, or private mediation does not pause the EEOC clock. If you spend four months trying to resolve a dispute internally, your charge may already be untimely by the time you file.

Housing

Housing complaints go to HUD’s Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity within one year of the last incident. Complaints can be filed online, by phone, by email, or by mail.¹⁰ HUD will investigate or refer the matter to a state or local agency. If a violation is found and conciliation fails, HUD or the Department of Justice may take legal action.

Filing promptly protects your ability to pursue a claim later if the legal landscape shifts again. It also preserves options under state law, which may have its own separate deadlines and its own protections that outlast federal policy changes.

1
Federal Register. Defending Women From Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government
2
Cornell Law Institute. Bostock v. Clayton County
3
Federal Register. Executive Order 13988 – Preventing and Combating Discrimination on the Basis of Gender Identity or Sexual Orientation
4
U.S. Department of Justice. 20 USC 1681 – 1688
5
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Memorandum – Implementation of Executive Order 13988 on the Enforcement of the Fair Housing Act
6
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Notification of Interpretation and Enforcement of Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act and Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972
7
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Section 1557: Protecting Individuals Against Sex Discrimination
8
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Rescission of HHS Notice and Guidance on Gender Affirming Care, Civil Rights, and Patient Privacy
9
U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Time Limits For Filing A Charge
10
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Learn About FHEO’s Process to Report and Investigate Housing Discrimination